The present invention relates to a holder for pre-knotted neckties, and particularly a holder which has a slide fastener or zipper of the known type. The holder includes an elongate tape with a loop in it which can be placed around the neck and can be adjusted by moving the slide of a slide fastener.
In known pre-knotted neckties of this type, the slide is rigidly connected with the front of the hollow holder. That holder consists of still material such as brass plate, etc. The slide fastener, which has metal, nylon or plastic teeth, consists of two tapes, which are not attached to the material of the neckties, and a slide movable for joining the sets of teeth on the two tapes. These tapes pass through the two small tubes of plastic, or the like, which are located in the necktie-knot holder and which extend in V shape to below the wearer's collar. At their upper ends, they are so connected to each other as to form a loop which can be placed around a wearer's neck.
In pre-knotted neckties of this type, the permanent attachment of the slide to the holder by soldering or riveting has a number of disadvantages.
For a wearer of a necktie who is in the habit of pulling somewhat on the necktie in order to bring the knot exactly into the center of the collar, as is customary in the case of a self-knotted necktie, this completely blocks the slide operation, as the slide cannot move away under pressure, since it is rigidly connected to the holder. If the wearer of the necktie wishes to actuate the release mechanism by pulling on the pull tab of the slide-fastener slide, in order to unlock the necktie from the collar by lengthening the loop, the slide cannot be opened. In order to eliminate this lock, it would have been sufficient to push the knot in the slide fastener a few millimeters further against the neck and then again pull on the tab. Unfortunately, many of these necktie wearers lose patience and cut the slide-fastener tape, so that the necktie is thereafter unusable. Due to its firm attachment to the holder, the slide also comes to lie too near to the knot, so that, in particular, wearers who have clumsy or large fingers have difficulty, particularly in the case of wider neckties with large knots, in finding the pull tab for the slide and in actuating the release mechanism.
The present invention eliminates these disadvantages. It does away with the rigid connection of the slide of the slide fastener or zipper to the holder. Now, blocking of the release mechanism is prevented, since the slide can now yield to any pressure caused by pulling on the neckties, etc. In this way, it also becomes possible for normal mass-produced slides of high quality to be used, and these are considerably cheaper to manufacture. Furthermore, the costly expense for soldering or riveting is avoided. Since there is now also less waste, a substantial saving can be obtained in the cost of manufacture, as well as in the warranty expenses.
In accordance with the invention, however, the slide lies outside the body of the knot. It is not firmly connected to the knot. Furthermore, one or both of the plastic tubes extends beyond the lower part of the holder and serves as an end stop for the slide-fastener slide in the upward direction toward the inside of the knot. The corresponding slide fastener also preferably consists only of a single left-hand or right-hand tape part of a nylon or plastic endless spiral slide-fastener or zipper. This part is passed from below up one side through the slide, through the tube present in the body of the knot, and then forms on top a loop, which is seamless. Then the part of the same tape on the other side is passed through the other tube present in the body of the knot, downward through the other side of the slide. The holder is supported by internal support against deformation and indentation.
By elimination of the soldering or riveting, instead of using electroplated or galvanized slides, it is possible to also use enameled or spray-lacquered slides and zippers, as well as slide-fastener tapes of different colors, which are adapted to the colors of the material of the neckties. A further improvement and a decrease in the cost of manufacture is obtained in using only one-half of an endless slide-fastener tape to form a loop and then to place it under the collar. This can be done instead of using a conventional metal or nylon two-part zipper slide fastener. In this way, the sewing together of the two individual slide-fastener tape halves to form a loop is avoided. Furthermore, the two starting parts as well as the end part of the slide fastener are no longer required. As a result, the wearer's collar will no longer be injured by the starting parts of metal. Upon manufacture, the possible elimination of damaged spiral slide-fastener tapes is less expensive than the removal of damaged conventional slide fasteners.
In previous slide-fastener neckties, disturbances in operation frequently occurred because the holder was squeezed upon the manufacture or by the wearer. This caused difficulties in connection with the passage of the tape or else caused damage to the tape. Furthermore, the shape and the appearance of the neckties suffered from the deformation. The present invention also eliminates this defect by the use of a so-called hollow, intermediate or support tube, through which the same spreader clamp, or the like, is passed that serves for connecting the plastic tubes and the necktie to the holder. Furthermore, the intermediate plastic tube assures that the thread connection between the necktie-material coverings of the two tubes extending out of the top of the knot are not cut or worn through by the spreader-clamp connection, or the like. In this way, the coverings can no longer come away from the tubes or out of the knot.
In order to prevent the slide from passing too deeply into the knot of the necktie and in order to obtain a lower position of the slide for the easier grasping of the pull tab, two additional downwardly extending plastic tubes are arranged in such a manner that they form an X together with the two previous upper, upwardly extending plastic tubes. Alternatively, the two previous plastic tubes are extended, in parallel to each other or diagonally downward, so that they protrude definitely below the holder and thus form an upper stop against the inside of the body of the knot to block the slide-fastener slide. The slide now comes to lie completely below the outside of the holder. Furthermore, better guidance of the slide-fastener tape or tapes is obtained.
For a person who wears a pre-knotted necktie, it is important that no difference can be noted from a selftied necktie in the nature or shape of the knot. In previous neckties of this type, the shape of the knot frequently was undesirable and gave evidence that the necktie was not self-knotted. This problem is also eliminated in the present invention in that the shaped body of the sponge rubber, plastic, or the like, which is placed on the shaping member now has a V or trapezoidal shape.